Shelf systems consisting of wall rails and support elements which can be suspended therein for shelf bases are widely used and have become established in private and commercial use, for example for placing books, goods, files and the like over a large surface area. As shelf systems of this type can be extended as desired upward and to the side, they are highly flexible.
Particularly suitable for attaching shelf bases or shelves of differing depth are shelf base carriers with a clamping mechanism, which is provided at the trailing end thereof facing the wall, for clamping the shelf bases. A known shelf base carrier of this type is shown schematically in FIG. 9. The carrier 20 which can be fastened or suspended in a wall rail 10 has a lower holding portion 22 with a bearing surface, which extends at the upper edge thereof horizontally away from a wall 50, for a shelf base 40 and a clamping element 24, extending away above the wall, for clamping the shelf base 40. This allows fastening of shelf bases of differing depth but only of a specific shelf thickness.
Known in the prior art, for example from FR 1 270 138, DE 36 23 000 C2, DE-G-89 06 646, EP-A-0 330 599 and EP-A-0 383 213, are shelf base carriers for clamping shelf bases with screw mechanisms for adapting to various shelf thicknesses. However, screw mechanisms of this type can exert at individual points locally very high forces on the shelf base, thus potentially causing damage thereto. This is highly undesirable, in particular in the case of valuable and/or sensitive shelf bases made of glass, fine wood or natural stone. Also, screw mechanisms of this type are expensive to manufacture and comparatively awkward to handle.
GB 294 310 A describes a shelf base carrier with a lower holding portion and an upper clamping portion, both of which have screwable distancing elements for clamping a shelf.
EP-A-390 045 describes a shelf base carrier with a lower bearing surface and an upper holding surface and also spacer strips which have two grooves arranged perpendicularly to one another and can be attached in a horizontal position onto a first rail and in a vertical position onto a second rail for receiving shelf bases of differing thickness.